1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supporting bracket mounted to a knee panel which protects the knees of a passenger during a collision.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vehicle is provided with a knee panel positioned in front of a front seat, for protecting the knees of a passenger during a collision. As shown in FIG. 8, a knee panel 14 is supported by a supporting bracket 40 fixed to a rod-shaped pillar-to-pillar member 10 whose both ends are respectively connected to each pillar which is usually provided on both sides of a vehicle. The supporting bracket 40 is designed to absorb impact energy by deforming itself plastically when the knees of a passenger strike against the knee panel 14.
Ideally the supporting bracket 40 deforms so that the knee panel 14 moves in a direction indicated by arrow A (as shown in FIG. 6) while keeping constant an angle at which the knee panel 14 faces a knee N of a passenger. The deformation of the supporting bracket 40 increases its resistance successively so as to absorb impact energy since the knee N moves upwardly at an angle .theta. with respect to a horizontal line at the time of collision, as shown in FIG. 6.
Conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in order to obtain such ideal impact energy absorbing and deformation characteristics, the supporting bracket 40, having crash holes 42 perforated therethrough or beads 44 provided thereon, is formed by press-molding a sheet, plate material. (see Japanese Utility-Model Laid-Open No. 1-70657).
However, even with the formation of crash holes 42 or beads 44, it is not certain what sort of deformation characteristic the supporting bracket will in fact exhibit. Therefore, by repeatedly conducting trial-and-error tests the optimum shape of the supporting bracket 40, and the best size and location of the crash holes 42 and the beads 44 must be determined. This is time consuming and costly. In addition, the supporting bracket 40, which is manufactured by a bending process of a sheet, is heavy.